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AI UP YOUR DOODLES
I know that “ai” is not a verb, but that doesn’t stop me from using to create the potentially worst possible title. Scribble Diffusion is a cool toy that allows you to draw a scribble on the screen, add a prompt, and it will then generate an AI image for you. I drew a circle…
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AI MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS? YUP, AND IT’S PRETTY GOOD
Turns out AI is also good at recommending movies for you. I don’t mean the terrible Netflix recommendations, but I just discovered a site called Movie Deep Search which allows you to type in a phrase like “strong storytelling movies with a plot twist” or “funny movies with good writing” and it spits out a…
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SHOWER TEMPERATURE CONTROL
One of the most common first-world gripes is getting the water temperature right when taking a shower. It’s a common experience that the water is too cold, you move the shower handle a tiny little bit to make it warmer, and suddenly instead of slightly too cold, you now get way too hot water. Ben…
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WARAYAKI-YA わらやき屋
Warayaki is a spectacular way of preparing food: Take a bunch of rice straw (wara) and burn it (yaki). The chef puts a bunch of rice straw on the fireplace, lights it up, and puts the food into the flames. It’s a very short, intense exposure to heat and smoke and light. The food will…
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Myeong-yi Namul (명이나물)
Myeong-yi Namul (aka myeongi namul, 명이나물) is the Korean name for for pickled leaves of Korean mountain garlic. Now it’s not really garlic as far as I can tell, it’s called like this because it tastes a bit like garlic and grows mostly in the mountains. My (so far unconfirmed research) shows that this plant…
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RICHAT STRUCTURE: THE EYE OF THE SAHARA. ATLANTIS?
No idea how substantial this is, but I thought it was incredibly interesting, even if just for the Richat Structure, aka The Eye of the Sahara, or Guelb er Richât, which I didn’t know about. He also mentions an ancient Mauretanian king of the name Mansa Musa, who some claim was the wealthiest man in…
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SHINE MUSCAT GRAPE
Shine muscat grape are a special cultivar of grapes that was developed in Japan in 1988, but is still a rather exclusive type of grape that most people have never tasted. And the only reason why I write about it here today is because I’ve just tasted it for the first time—and it’s a remarkably…
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BAKING BREAD IN SAND AND ASHES: TAGUELLA OF THE TUAREG
The Tuareg have a special way of baking bread, which is called taguella. It’s a simple flat bread baked in the embers of a fire, basically the hot sand and ashes of a little bonfire. It’s typically made of wheat, millet, or semolina I love this way of making bread. It’s very efficient if you…
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CORAL VINE / MEXICAN CREEPER
I was recently sitting at a coffee shop and really loved the vines growing that provided shade. Turns out they’re called Coral Vines, Mexican Creepers, or Antigonon leptopus. Their flowers can bloom all year long, the leaves are heart-shaped (cordate).
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MANCHEGO CHEESE
Manchego cheese is a Spanish sheep cheese, named after the kind of sheep (Manchega sheep) that’s producing the milk this cheese is made of. It has a pretty intense taste (as you would expect from cheese made from sheep milk), but not overpowering, is rich and creamy in taste. The texture depends on the age.…
Got any book recommendations?